Q2 Earnings Sees Record Negative Guidance: FactSet

NEW YORK ( TheStreet)--Second quarter earnings guidance is on track to break a record for S&P 500 companies, according to data published Friday by FactSet, a financial services research company.

Eighty seven S&P 500 companies have issued negative second quarter guidance, FactSet found--more than in any previous quarter since the company began collecting such data in 2006.

By contrast, just 21 companies have issued positive guidance, which is on track to be a record low number. The current records--both for high negative guidance and low positive guidance--were set in the first quarter of this year, when 86 companies were negative and 25 were positive in their earnings guidance.

In terms of sector (with a minimum of five companies issuing quarterly EPS guidance) financials have been most negative, with 100% of the companies that issued guidance being negative. That is followed by materials (90%), industrials (82%) and information technology (81%).

Despite all the negative guidance, FactSet found it didn't necessarily lead stocks lower. Electronic Arts ( EA), for example, issued negative guidance on May 7, saying it would lose $0.62 per share in the quarter compared to consensus estimates of a $0.37 loss. Nonetheless, shares rose 20% from the time period starting two days before the guidance was issued through two days afterward.